The PD Blog

AXIS goes to M.O.A.B.

Brianne Thompson and Niklas Daniel of AXIS Flight School arrived with the Skydive Arizona otter in MOAB to help organize during the 8th annual Mother Of All Boogies. Over the course of four days, jumpers from all over flocked to the beautiful dropzone to enjoy the great scenery, friendly people, and make some awesome jumps. We had an awesome time jumping and organizing at this boogie and would like to thank everyone who attended!

 

 

In addition, AXIS was able to take part in some of the off-site jumps, such as MOAB Airpark and  Castle Valley in order to take pictures. Please visit Nik's Blog to view more images.

And for all you freeflyers out there, here is some GoPro footage from an interesting jump we did with some tunnel instructors from SVCO (Skyventure Colorado).

 

AXIS would like to thank Skydive Moab for hosting this great event, and is looking forward to attening next year!

PD Factory Team Swiss Alps Expedition: Day 2

Day 2 of the Swiss expedition has come to an end after some warm up flocks and mountain runs. Let's read what Pablo Hernandez and Tommy Dellibac had to say about it...

From Pablo -  


"Amazing day!!! We had a slow start due to some bad weather conditions and bad visiblity in the valleys, so we used some time this morning in the hotel to do the last rigging works getting prepared for the jumps. It was quite fun to see Brian explaining to Bruno Brokken (20,000+jumps) how to connect the Slinks on his rig. He had a good excuse of course because
he never used them before, old school always stay with hard links!!
 
After all the work was done, we headed out to the DZ in Interlaken called
Skydive Switzerland run by Ellliot.It's a very nice DZ, amazing views, with a
pilatus, brand new Cessna Caravan and a Helicopter, not bad for a little
DZ, right? 

We didn't want to waste any time so we used the bad weather conditions to do a very good briefing on our planned runs for the day lead by Daniel and Pascal, our guides here in Switzerland. I have to say that those guys
really know what they are doing. They have prepared some Google maps, videos and very valuable information for us to recognize the terrain before being there in the real life when we will not have time to ask what? why? where? who?

When the clouds were clearing but not enough to fly the mountains we
decided to do a flocking jump together as a team to warm up, and train
things like reeling the RDS quick and getting together fast losing the least
amount of altitude possible. While we were climbing to altitude, we flew over
the mountain run we wanted to fly and realized that the clouds were
clearing, so as soon as we landed, we packed and took off for our first
mountain flying. I followed Ian Bobo down the mountain, amazing views,
Bobo made me feel like a sissy. He was so close to the mountain and so
aggressive on his turns that inspired me a lot for my next run.
On the second jump at the mountain, Bobo and I we followed Pascal our
guide, very experienced on those Valleys, actually I think one of those
mountains has his name on it :)

Amazing flights, great people, amazing views and it's just the first day!!
We still have 10 more to go!! I hope that by the end of the trip we will
be able to fly all the team together at the same time down the mountains!"

From Tommy -

"As the PD Factory Team awoke this morning to sunshine, we started the day off with a little breakfast at the hotel.  Then started to gather our gear up and load the cars to head to the DZ, Skydive Switzerland.  As we arrived at the DZ and met up with our local guides, Pascal and Daniel, we got the bad news about the wind forecast. There were 30-50 knot head winds on the mountain runs we had planned to do. We quickly regrouped and loaded up the cars and headed out to check out some landing areas in another valley. After checking everything out and a few snowballs being thrown we headed back and waited around for the clouds to clear from the valley.      

We went back to the DZ and looked at our planned runs at our new location. Thanks to our guides for all of their help. After about an hour or two it was clear at the DZ so we decided to do a team flying warm up jump. As we climbed to altitude everybody was looking out the windows enjoying the view and what a view it was! We landed from that jump, packed up, and what do you know the valley cleared and we were on a 20 min call. We took off and started our climb flying over our target landing area to get a look from up top and it was clear as can be. Two minutes was called and my heart started pumping faster and faster. The team started to exit and wouldn't you know I had a toggle fire and was off to the races. Got it all sorted out but was not able to real in my RDS so I hung out and got to watch my teammates attack the mountain from afar before we all landed safe. I hurried back to the DZ and packed up and before you knew it we were back in the Caravan ready for round two.

On the second run I finally got to swoop the mountain for the first time ever. I know...case of beer, but it was worth every minute of it. Once again we all landed safe and everybody was pumped! We gathered our gear up and headed back to the DZ so we could get packed up and head back for some much needed dinner. A big thanks to Jay and Jessica for an awesome dinner. So over all it was a great day. Time to get some rest and see what tomorrow brings.  Tommy Out"

 

    

 

Pimp My Fly 2010

Awesome! Two thumbs Up! ... Seemed to be the theme for this years Pimp My Fly Boogie held over 5th - 10th July at Skydive Hanko in Finland. 

This is the third year PMF has been held, and each year it grows in popularity, based around a FreeFly Boogie for girls, with a focus on great skydives, good friends and learning a little bit while having fun, and even setting a few records at the same time. This years event was stocked full with some of the best load organizers, two Cessna Caravans, beach jumps, head down records, wingsuit jumps, beach jumps, saunas, PD tent tetris and many more.

PD Sponsored Melanie Curtis (Skydive Elsinore) and Fabian Raidel (Volare) joined an impressive list of skilled organizers during this event, to give the 100+ jumpers all the fun they could have, with long summer days and near perfect weather, PMF was a boogie not to have missed.

One of the main focuses of this event was to try set a new Finnish Women's Head Down Record, and with the help of Melanie and Fabian, the girls took to the sky and built a 6-Way Women's Record. PD Congratulates the girls and all who help them on this, next year we hope to see that grow and maybe we'll even see a few of you on the next world record.

Boogie Pics here and these  here by Andrew Lovemore

Kiitos

Midsommar Boogie 2010

There are boogies and then there is the Midsommer Boogie 22/06 - 27/06 in Sweden, this annual event is held by three Swedish Skydiving Clubs who put their planes (Otter, PAC & Beaver), jumpers and party hats together to celebrate the Summer Solstice, this year it was held at Skydive Skåne, Everöd.

Vendors from Paratec, Airtec, Bonehead, Boogieman and Aerodyne, joining PD along with Uffe's Hop Shop who is the biggest (be it only) gear dealer in Sweden for 6 days of skydiving, celebration and late night parties.

With just over 200 jumpers coming out to enjoy great weather and cheap jump prices, yes I said cheap, think 17 Euro's a jump, the vibe was friendly and festive. Most jumpers camped out in tents or campers on the DZ, making sure they did not miss a single minute. Each night saw a variety of events, from the Midsommer Games to a Foam Party and Helium Karaoke, needless to say each morning saw a few red eyed stragglers mixed in with the jumpers soaking up the summer sun.

PD was there with our new inflatable tent and 40 demo canopies. Each day saw jumping begin at 9am and go till well after 9pm, as sunset is around 11pm, it allows for a great day of jumping. Many took advantage of the opportunity to jump the Pulse and the Storm for the first time, and we even had a few people break in the new Optimum 160. Many also took the time to ask questions and get education on the PD products and packing. 

And like all good things the boogie had to end, but this was one for the record books, and if you're ever in Sweden make sure you pack your rig and enjoy the friendly faces and jumpers of Sweden. PD looks forward to 2011, making more friends and sharing more memories.

Tack to all who made this a great event. 

For a few boogie pics: http://www.thepdblog.com/photos/midsommar_boogie_2010/

Where My Plane should be....

I'm back here at the airport on my way out of sunny Florida, which happens to not be so sunny today. I'm headed north to visit regions not quite as warm as Deland.   It's about 10 minutes after our scheduled departure time and here's a picture of the gate I'll be departing from. No I didn't miss my flight, but I think I may be sitting here for a while..
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